Ministers pushing for troubled Ministry of Justice to be broken up because it’s ‘not fit for purpose’

CABINET ministers are pushing for the troubled Ministry of Justice to be broken up amid fears the department is “not fit for purpose”, the Sun can reveal.

A series of major blunders and rows with the country’s top lawyers have sparked “concerns at the very top that a major overhaul is needed”, according to a Cabinet source.

Embattled Justice Secretary Liz Truss has sparked fury in legal circles by refusing to defend High Court judges from Brexit bias attacks, as well as blundering into recent rows over insurance claims and rape victims giving evidence in courts.

Insiders say Labour’s 2007 merging of the role of the Lord Chancellor — the nation’s top lawyer — with oversight of Britain’s bursting prisons had led to “deep rooted and at times absurd problems and conflicts within the department.”

The last Labour government reduced the powers of the Lord Chancellor in 2003 and created the Ministry of Justice in 2007.

The department has a £9billion annual budget and employs 70,040, across the courts, prisons and the probation service, as well as through Legal Aid.

But now after a decade, a Whitehall source hit out: “The department is not fit for purpose and the recent cock-ups go deeper than simply weak ministerial oversight.

“Splitting it up is something that is certainly being looked at”, the source added.

In the fledgling plot the role of Lord Chancellor would be separated and returned to a senior lawyer who would attend Cabinet but be “freed from the tough prisons brief” — which could even return to the Home Office.

And the plan is thought to have significant backing on amongst Conservative MPs.

A separate government source told The Sun: “The majority of backbenchers who are interested in these things, as well as senior lawyers and judges, agree the Labour reforms were wrong and the Lord Chancellor should be given to a senior lawyer freed from the tough prisons brief.”

“The senior judiciary think the current dual role is an almost impossible one.

“In its tenth year the MoJ and it is not a well functioning department”, they added.

But allies of Theresa May said that while the problems of the department are well known, it is unlikely that such drastic action will be taken in the short term.

They suggested the PM’s natural caution meant any decision on how to fix the department would be a slow process amid fears simply “rearranging the machinery of government will simply brush the problems under the carpet.”

No10 said: “No such plan is under consideration. It isn’t going to happen.”

The finger of blame for many of the problems was also pointed at Liz Truss, with one critic of the plan adding: “Calling time on the whole department would be an extreme measure to fix a weak appointment”.